Where Local and Global Appetites Collide

Looking for Armenian Ajarski in Tucson

While in L.A. last month my friend took me to an Armenian bakery for breakfast in North Hollywood. That’s the beauty of L.A., the vast melting pot of global flavors waiting to be devoured exists on almost every corner.

The restaurant Lilit Bakery Café (12001 Victory Blvd North Hollywood, CA 91606) was bigger than it looked from the outside. Most noticeably was the long case of Armenian and French pastries and lavishly decorated cakes for which I drooled. However, with these kinds of sweets they frequently look better than taste, so I only looked.

Pastry perfection

The reason we came was for the ajarski.

I watched the muscular man behind the counter slap together some dough into a raised two-pointed shape and fill it with white cheese and put into a massive oven. When delivered to the table, two perfectly runny fried eggs sat in the middle of perfectly browned crust. I didn’t know whether to eat it or salute it.

After the first few bites, I’m sure I was groaning loudly with pleasure.

The only thing that would have made it better – would be a few strips of roasted green chilies between the eggs and cheese. That’s my Southwest soul peeking through. (My friend topped hers with ham.)

Service and organization at Lilit Bakery and Café has much room for improvement but who cares – I was on vacation with nowhere to be for hours. Not only do they serve breakfast but generous sandwiches and panini, pizza, salads and exquisite coffee drinks, all at reasonable prices.

I was looking for some description of ajarski but this article in Saveur is the closest thing I’ve found. My breakfast was definitely not an egg bread (which to me is challah) but more like a thicker pizza dough. Another blog calls it “breakfast in a boat.”

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